Georgia-the-frog-obsessed has been out with an empty net in the neighbor's vernal pool for the last two evenings and tonight she begged to venture to "the big swamp" through the nearby yard. The peepers were loud! It's only March 14th!
Here's a video of Georgia stalking the small frogs in the dusk. We didn't catch any or see any, but we certainly heard them.
We saw two very bright planets low in the sky (which scared Georgia because she didn't want Martians to come down...Hmmm) so I grabbed Rob's phone that has the Google Sky Map http://www.google.com/mobile/skymap/ and held it up to the sky. It showed a big Jupiter and a smaller Venus. (Rob and Lily came to see but Georgia stayed inside to hide from the Martians. Who has been talking about Martians?)
We'll be off on our trip in 10 days!! We've got a Cookie dogsitter. A chicken house sitter. The time off work. Homework from school. Packing lists and suitcase ready to start packing. So exciting!!
We've all been able to agree on this song for some reason. It's so dark it makes me laugh to have Cookie singing it with his variety of hats and ties.
"I'd sell your heart to the junkman baby For a buck, for a buck If you're looking for someone to pull you out of that ditch You're out of luck, you're out of luck
Ship is sinking The ship is sinking The ship is sinking
There's a leak, there's a leak in the boiler room The poor, the lame, the blind Who are the ones that we kept in charge? Killers, thieves and lawyers
God's away, God's away God's away on business, business God's away, God's away God's away on business, business"
So each family member takes a turn picking a song for clean-up time and Georgia said yesterday, "Play that Cookie Monster one; it's creepy but I like it. I don't know why"
That's exactly how I feel about Tom Waits, too.
I think the darkness suits my mood as Vermont Yankee the aged nuclear power plant that was overwhelming voted out of Vermont by Vermont and its neighbors is set to continue operating for another 20 years past its use-by date. And Liberty "University" (Jerry Fallwell's son's institution) is looking at acquiring the sweet vacant campus near our house that I've always hoped would be a Hogworts someday. Sigh....
Cozy night with the girls. Rob went to see something violent at the movies "I haven't been in months!!" So we got Ponyo from the library and watched it for the third time. Both the girls love it and I like it, too. We made popcorn (started a small fire in the microwave, had to pause and open every window, put out some fans and learn not to hit the "popcorn" button on the microwave for a half size bag of trader joe's popcorn) then we got back to the movie.
With spring coming along so quickly I'm really enjoying these last evenings with the hot wood stove.
The sap was madly dripping out of the trees after a cold night and deliciously warm day. It was even overflowing onto the damp trunks of the trees. We took long drinks and enjoyed the drip drip drip.
Two weeks of practicing in the morning before Lily heads to school. Moved upstairs where it is quieter. Going for 20 minutes of practice time. Very exciting. Lily even said, "That was fun this morning, Mama!" We're learning Jingle Bells and Little Drummer Boy.
